The first of many confessionals…

January 8th, 2010

Momconfessionals IS greenbaby-nyc. It’s a new year with a new website and a new beginning. Why the change? If anyone had bothered to read my mini bio before, you might have seen something along the lines of: a mother, living in the outerboros of NYC, trying to be greener every day. Trying was the key word. I always felt an obligation to keep my posts more green than not and some of my readers liked to point out whenever my posts weren’t green enough for them of course. Not that I minded. Many times they pushed me to keep trying, be greener, be a better parent and for that I’m grateful. The only thing was that I itched to talk more on a broader level, about all aspects of parenting.

My original intention wasn’t to be solely GREEN oriented, rather that it was one of many facets of my parenting style. Like all mothers, it was simply about my lifestyle choices, whether right or wrong, that I was making because I wanted a better, more meaningful and fruitful life for my children. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed, met some wonderful people who I now can call my friends and learned so much from my affiliations with all things green. That unto itself was an eye opener as well. There are so many resources and “green” spokesmodels out there and that was never my intention to be, despite the expectations. In order to expand my conversations beyond the “GREEN” topic, I decided to make a transition to a moniker that was more fitting. Why mom confessionals? Well, quick frankly because I’d be the first to admit I make a fair share of parenting mistakes. While I toyed with I’m a bad mother.com and terrible mother.com — hahah! I often find myself saying, ” I have to confess…” and there it was… mom confessionals.

Mom confessionals is my blog where my journey as a parent is charted for all to see. I’m still trying to be greener everyday — it’s not just good sense for the present, but for my children’s future as well — but like myself, its a work in progress. You’ll see the usual product reviews – many green focused, but some are not, chronicles of our family roadtrips, glimpses of moments in my life and things I just want to share that I’ve learned on the job.

Here are a few confessions for the record:

I didn’t learn about BPA until my daughter had been using BPA leaching bottles for 2 months and have been racked with guilt ever since.

I was a failure at composting despite an earnest attempt. My Chinese is hardly fluent and my in laws simply couldn’t keep track of all my composting rules. It was too complicated and what I had in the end was disease causing compost because it simply became a mini garbage can in my kitchen.

I care more about what my kids consume and what touches their skin than my own. They’ll get all the organic foods and toxic free skincare.

If you ever come to my home, you’d be shocked to see some non-green products sitting right next to green ones. My in-laws are addicted to shopping clubs and can’t seem to kick some habits.

I had a REAL Christmas tree this year which will live a second life as my garden mulch.

My parenting philosophy is simple. Short of putting my kids in a bubble, I can’t rid the world of phthalates, make sure every bite they intake is organic and never let them watch a drop of TV until they are older – but I can certainly try. If they do occasionally, I won’t try to kill myself, it is not the end of the world. Being green to me is also not being wasteful. I’m not going to dump everything in my house because it isn’t green. They’ll live the life they have, some living way too long I admit, and when they’re done, I make the “greener” choice. Before making the switch to all green cleaners in my house, I had two shelves. One with the “dangerous” chemicals, and one with their green alternatives. As I finished off the “dangerous” ones, I hoped never to see their return (although my in-law’s trips to the wholesale clubs sometimes yields a lingering bottle or two) and replaced with my “greener” alternative. My home is lighted with energy-efficient bulbs and we’re recycling maniacs that police each other (maybe that’s why they can’t seem to remember the rules of composting, they’ve retained every recycling rule out there). My daughter may sample cheese puffs outside of her home and I’ll find the organic equivalent, pulling a bait and switch (amazon.com is my friend). We’ll got to McDonald’s occasionally, but at home, Chicken Nuggets are Ian’s Organics with DHA. I’m still trying earnestly to cloth diaper my son as well as breastfeed him as long as I did for my daughter (2 years) if not longer. When my husband built my son’s nursery, the custom furniture piece he built was made with reclaimed timber and the walls were painted with Benjamin Moore’s Natura Zero VOC paints. I’ve got a playroom filled with Fisher-Price, Mattel and Legos, right next to toys from Plan Toys and Sprig Toys.

I am always aiming to be greener, safer and a better mom, but like I said before, just like me, it’s a work in progress. This site is still has much transitioning to do from GREENBABY-NYC to MOM CONFESSIONALS, all the posts have been transferred, but I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me.

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Suzanne is student, daughter, wife, (labor & delivery) certified registered nurse, certified lactation counselor, friend, entrepreneur and blogger – but the job she's most proud of is mother… She shares her journey on this blog and The Disney Files.
Read more about her here.